Brazilian scientists discovered a bacteria in the soil of the Amazon, which produces a compound with antitumor properties similar to those of chemotherapy, which could help fight breast cancer and other diseases, those responsible for the study reported this Thursday.
The ‘Pseudomonas aeruginosa’ bacteria, found in the soil of the Amazonian state of Pará, generates a compound that turned out to be capable of reducing the ability of cancer cells to grow and multiply by 50% in 72 hours, according to the published study. in the magazine ‘Scientific Reports’.
This result is comparable to those obtained by conventional treatments with chemotherapy, according to what the scientists stated in a statement released by the Vale Institute of Technology and the Federal University of the South and Southeast of Pará.
The substance also demonstrated promising results in the fight against other bacteria and viruses of veterinary and medical interest, such as herpes or the murine coronavirus, which infects mice, according to the statement.
According to one of the authors of the study, Sidnei Cerqueira, the discovered compound can serve to inhibit toxicity in soils contaminated by heavy metals.
Another of the authors, José Pires, pointed out the Amazonian soil as a favorable place for the development of different bacteria with great “pharmaceutical interest.”
With information from Scientific Reports